THE much-needed refurbishment of Royal Perth Hospital and redevelopment of Graylands Hospital have been put on hold as the West Australian government pours cash into two major new medical facilities.

Treasurer Troy Buswell revealed in the state's mid-year economic and fiscal outlook today that the projects had been "reprioritised" to free up $238.2 million for a computing system at the Fiona Stanley Hospital and "transitioning activities" for the Perth Children's Hospital.

Cuts to the annual medical equipment replacement program were also announced.

Mr Buswell also revealed a six-month delay in commissioning the Fiona Stanley Hospital - attributed to the complexity of the computing system, with a "paperless" facility planned - would cost $52.7 million in facilities management fees to Serco.

He said that security and maintenance, including gardening, simply had to be done.

Mr Buswell took a swipe at the Health Department, which needed an additional $98 million after it failed to meet "one cent" of its leave liability target.

And a further $124 million has been budgeted for commissioning and service transition costs for the Fiona Stanley hospital, which was previously to be paid by the Health Department from existing cashflow.

"It's now apparent that that's not the case," Mr Buswell said. "A lot of those costs are to do with labour, because you're effectively having to start up a second hospital while continuing to provide services around the health system." The Health Services Union is concerned the focus on Fiona Stanley Hospital - set to be the state's top medical facility - will mean the ageing Royal Perth Hospital will be ignored, or jobs and beds slashed.

And there's not enough capacity at Graylands psychiatric hospital, meaning some mental health patients are sent to mainstream hospitals and kept under guard.

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